Friday, July 31, 2009

Pacu and Cichlid owners!?

What kind of live food is safe to feed Pacus and Cichlids? The fish in question are only about 3 inches right now and i was wondering what kind of live foods and how much live food and how many times a day i can safely feed them please help and thanks in advance.
Answers:
Just wondering if you knew that you will ultimately need 2,000 gallons of water to house a pair of Pacus. My sister bought a pair and I didn't know exactly how big they get, but let's just say that she just returned them to the fish store because they were nearly the size of dinner plates. I told her when they were 2 inches and she just brought them home to take them back, but she didn't. Take them back for store credit, or swap them for more Cichlids. I'm not sure that Pacus and Cichlids are compatible anyway. What type of Cichlids do you have? I have Black Convict Cichlids and they aren't too picky. They eat Cichlid flake food, pellets, sinking vegie pellets, frozen Daphnia, frozen Blood worms, Brine Shrimp, etc. etc. Basically just a varied diet is best.
Pacu's are vegetarians,Cichlids are world wide,so we need more information about them,like species names.
Also do you know what the adult size of a Pacu is? They need very large tanks(most public aquariums won't take them because they use too much space).
Pacus are vegetarians, even though they look like pirahnas. They are part of the same family, tetras. Do not feed your pacus live food, they will get along fine with flakes and pellets while they are small but will need lots of veggies when they get to adult size (around 2 feet).
Most cichlids do not eat a lot of live food, the ones who do vary their diet with many kinds of larvae, flies and crustaceans. Many cichlids will develop the "Malawi Bloat" if fed too much live food. Many times this is fatal.
You should know what kind of cichlids you have and research them online (google, ask...) to see what they eat.
There are many kinds of high protein frozen foods that are much safer than live feeder fish (if that is what you are considering). Keeping live food on hand for just one or two tanks is very labor intensive, although many aquarists breed brine shrimp, micro worms and vinegar eels for their fry, and white worms for their smaller (2-4") fish. Red worms and black worms are also good for most fish.
Do not start feeding feeder fish from the pet store, they carry many parasites and diseases from being spawned and raised in outdoor ponds. Many prize fish have been killed by diseases and parasites brought into their tanks by feeder goldfish, guppies and rosy reds.
Your fish can grow large and healthy without feeder fish.
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Pacus eat almost anything you throw in the tank. They are not choosy and grow at an incredible rate. They are known to reach 2 feet in home aquariums and even bigger in the wild. My Pacus eat all types of cichlid pellets and flakes. I would not mix them only because Pacu sometimes take off in the tank, like a bullet knocking everything in its way when spooked. They will eat as long as there is light on the tank or around them. They have giant appetites.

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